A Prayer for Purification
Perchance that I might learn what pity is,That I might laugh at erring men no more,Secure in my own strength as heretofore,My soul hath fallen from her state of bliss:Nor know I under any flag but thisHow fighting I may 'scape those perils sore,Or how survive the rout and horrid roarOf adverse hosts, if I Thy succour miss.O flesh! O blood! O cross! O pain extreme!By you may those foul sins be purified,Wherein my fathers were, and I was born!Lo, Thou alone art good: let Thy supremePity my state of evil cleanse and hide--So near to death, so far from God, forlorn.
Words in this poem
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Prayer for Purification is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michelangelo Buonarroti, A Prayer for Purification, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/a-prayer-for-purification.html, id L15213.
Form and metre
A Prayer for Purification is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -AABBAABCDECDE is · moreA · heretoforeA · blissB · thisB · soreA · roarA · missB · extremeC · purifiedD · bornE · supremeC · hideD · forlornE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Perchance that I might learn what pity is, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| That I might laugh at erring men no more, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Secure in my own strength as heretofore, | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| My soul hath fallen from her state of bliss: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor know I under any flag but this | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| How fighting I may 'scape those perils sore, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Or how survive the rout and horrid roar | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Of adverse hosts, if I Thy succour miss. | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| O flesh! O blood! O cross! O pain extreme! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| By you may those foul sins be purified, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Wherein my fathers were, and I was born! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Lo, Thou alone art good: let Thy supreme | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Pity my state of evil cleanse and hide-- | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| So near to death, so far from God, forlorn. | 10 | ········˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.